Hot Topics:

Canon City News

A new era: Denver Broncos prep for training camp

Many will focus on the three quarterbacks, but the Broncos' league-leading defense returns mostly intact

By Nicki Jhabvala

The Denver Post

Posted:
07/27/2016 06:32:08 AM MDT

Von Miller of the Denver Broncos talks with John Elway after the game. The Denver Broncos played the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. (Joe Amon / The Denver Post)

2016-17 Key Dates

Rookies got an early start to camp, but Thursday marks the beginning for all players. Some key dates for the Broncos:

Sunday: First day players can practice with full pads.

Thursday, Aug. 11: Preseason opener, at Chicago.

Tuesday, Aug. 30: Roster must be reduced to 75 players by 2 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 3: Roster must be reduced to 53 players on active/inactive list by 2 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 4: Claiming period for players on waivers expires at 10 a.m. Teams can form practice squad with 10 players.

Thursday, Sept. 8: Regular-season opener, vs. Carolina.

On July 30, 2015, Broncos general manager John Elway, donning one of his many navy notch lapel sport coats, sat under an oversized tent in the smoldering heat as a horde of reporters peppered him with questions. The usual questions. The expected questions that had no definitive answers.

Is the new system a fit for their quarterback? Is the young offensive line a concern? Is this team capable of going all the way?

It was the day before the start of training camp and Elway, armed with a new coach in longtime friend and former teammate Gary Kubiak, was leading a new era. Elway had revamped the defense a year earlier, and after back-to-back disappointments in the postseason — a Super Bowl blowout loss followed by a first-game exit — had set the team up for change and a world championship in Peyton Manning's final season.

Advertisement

Come Wednesday, the eve of the Broncos' 2016 training camp, Elway probably will field the same questions about the same topics, but with different names. Another Broncos era will kick off that afternoon and start in earnest the next day, when players take the field for Day 1 of practice.

The retirement of Manning and abrupt exit of Brock Osweiler have paved the way for a new battle at quarterback between veteran Mark Sanchez, second-year player Trevor Siemian and first-round draft pick Paxton Lynch. The porous offensive line of 2015 has been revamped, with veterans Donald Stephenson and Russell Okung joining the mix of young, but more experienced players. And a year of learning Kubiak's system will, the Broncos hope, make for an easier, faster transition to the offensive changes as they seek another a Super Bowl title.

But while eyes might focus on the three quarterbacks, the Broncos' league-leading defense returns mostly intact, with a season's worth of work and rings with 194 diamonds each to prove their worth. Defense, they'll tell you, wins championships, and last season, as the Broncos' offense struggled to find a rhythm and consistency (as well as the end zone), the defense often took over on both sides of the ball.

Although a few key faces — namely defensive end Malik Jackson and inside linebacker Danny Trevathan — left for bigger contracts in free agency, the leaders returned in outside linebackers Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware, and a secondary that has been dubbed the best in the league by Pro Football Focus.

"Every year you lose people, so you have to be able to just bounce right back," cornerback Chris Harris said. "We feel like the secondary, having us back another year on top of what we accomplished last year, we feel like the sky's the limit."

The potential abounds as the Broncos look to become only the ninth team in history to repeat as champions. For a defense that thrives off doubts, the challenge is the next proverbial chip on its shoulder.

But as another year of transition awaits, these Broncos — and their general manager — will open camp with at least one concrete answer.

"We know the formula to win. People get caught up in, 'The quarterback has to throw 40 touchdowns, 50 touchdowns' and things like that," Harris said. "We didn't win any games like that last year. Some games we didn't play well on defense and we still figured out a way to win on offense. If the offense didn't score a touchdown, we figured out how to score on defense.

"It might not look good on paper, and I think that's why people always slight us."

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.